Building Restaurant Customers’ Trust Amidst Covid-19 Crisis Through Value- and Performance- based Information: Risk Perception as a Moderator

Purpose: To weather the Covid-19 crisis and remain sustainable, restaurants need the trust of their customers. This study tested the impact of value similarity and preventive measures on customer trust and examined the impact of customer trust on customer cooperation. This study investigated the moderating effect of risk perception between study constructs. Design/methodology/approach: A web-based survey was administered to U.S. restaurant customers. For the main study, among the 240 surveys obtained, 218 usable responses remained after screening. Multiple regression and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to test the research hypotheses. Findings: The results indicated that value similarity and preventive measures were significant predictors in understanding customer trust in restaurants during Covid-19. It also demonstrated that restaurants’ preventive measures were a stronger determinant than value similarity in predicting customer trust, which significantly influenced customer cooperation behavior. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that risk perception moderated the relationship between preventive measures and customer trust. The effect of preventive measures on customer trust was greater for customers with a high level of risk perception than with those with a lower one. Research limitations/implications: The measurements of two antecedents of trust- value similarity and preventive measures- require further testing to confirm their validity and reliability in future research due to incomplete examination in prior hospitality studies. Originality/value: This study contributes to the existing knowledge by elucidating the strong impacts of both factors, value similarity and preventive measures, which were found to be contributory factors of customer trust during the crisis. The findings have meaningful implications for restaurant managers who take actions against the Covid-19 crisis to achieve sustainable business growth.